ACC All Access: Virginia Tech's running game still non-existent as passing game thrives against UNC

All of Virginia Tech’s games this season have been accompanied by “coming attractions” announcements from coach Frank Beamer and quarterback Logan Thomas in every postgame press conference.

Yet, the promise of better scenes on offense has yet to arrive. Tech took further strides toward putting together a complete offensive game in Saturday’s 27-17 win against North Carolina with the development of the passing game, but the running game is still stuck in the mud.

Thomas talked more after the UNC game about how the offense will be good in the future, as opposed to its current state. Oh – and there wasn’t any conversation about the non-existent ground attack.

“I guess we’re starting to get into it and understand what’s going on,” said Thomas after the win against UNC. “Things aren’t just going to go up overnight. We’re all starting to understand it. The receivers are getting on the same page with me. I’m on the same page with them. We’re both on the same with (offensive coordinator Scot) Loeffler. It’s huge. That’s what we’ve got to keep doing. We’ve got to keep improving in that way, because once we start kind of dealing on one accord, it’ll run smoothly.”

Tech (5-1 overall, 2-0 ACC) had 341 yards against UNC, including just 48 yards rushing against a defense determined to stop the run by routinely lining up at least one more player than Tech could block. It was the third time in the last four games Tech finished with 55 or fewer rushing yards.

It's been since the 2006 that Tech has been held to 55 or fewer rushing yards in a game at least three times in a season. Tech failed to eclipse 53 yards in four games in '06, and it was held under 100 yards six times. Despite Tech's struggles that season, running back Branden Ore still earned first team All-ACC honors (ACC-best 1,137 rushing yards) and the Hokies still finished 10-3.

Every ACC team except Tech has cleared more than 400 yards offense in a game against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent at least once this season.

Coming into the weekend, Virginia was the last ACC team other than Tech not to have 400-plus yards against an FBS opponent this season. U.Va. put up 459 yards in a 48-27 loss to Ball State.

The last time Tech had more than 400 yards in a game was last November in a 30-23 overtime win at Boston College when the Hokies posted 401 yards. Tech’s last non-overtime game in which it had more than 400 yards also came last November – a 30-12 loss at Miami when the Hokies had 421 yards.

Tech’s best offensive total this season against an FBS opponent came against Marshall, a triple-overtime game in which the Hokies mustered 382 yards, including 201 on the ground (season-best against an FBS foe). Tech hasn’t come close to that rushing yardage total against an FBS opponent in any other game this season.

"It's just a fact that we as an offense want to run the ball better and be more productive to get us into more second-and-5's, but the other side of it is I think you've got to be able to throw it," Beamer said. "If they're going to gang up on you, then you've got to be able to throw it. I think we're getting closer and closer to that...It's not just a gimme that you can load the box and stop the run. We're getting closer to being able to be productive in both the run and the pass."

At least Thomas and Beamer are right about the passing game. In the last two games against Georgia Tech and UNC, every time the ball has left Thomas’ hand via a pass attempt, Virginia Tech has picked up an average of 9.7 yards. He averaged just 5.2 yards per pass attempt in Virginia Tech’s first four games.

From a mechanical standpoint, Thomas has looked much more confident getting rid of the ball in a hurry in the last two games. He’s been able to spread the ball around to several targets, hitting nine different pass-catchers against UNC after connecting with eight different targets against both Marshall and Georgia Tech.

He didn’t run the ball nearly as much against UNC as he did against Marshall and Georgia Tech (nine carries for two yards against UNC; combined 39 carries for 116 yards and three touchdowns against Marshall and Georgia Tech).

Whether it was a specific play-calling design to de-emphasize Thomas in the running game against UNC (1-4, 0-2), or if it was simply an effort to try to keep the welts on Thomas’ 6-foot-6 frame to a minimum, the result further demonstrated just how reliant Virginia Tech is in Thomas’ ability to move the ball in all ways.

Tech got J.C. Coleman some carries for just the second time this season, and the first time against an FBS opponent. He’d been dealing with a high left ankle sprain that had limited his participation.

He finished with eight carries for 26 yards – by far the best yards per carry average (3.2) for any of Virginia Tech’s runners. Trey Edmunds had 14 carries for 27 yards (1.9 yards per carry).

Virginia Tech may have been limited in what it was able to do in the ground game against UNC after fullback Sam Rogers left the game with a leg injury. Though Rogers isn’t going to get carries, his blocking against front-loaded defenses is important.

"We're never going to give up on the run, but I think you've got to be smart," Beamer said. "How are they playing you? That's what makes a difference. How many people do they have in the box, and whether it's to your advantage to throw the ball, or it's to your advantage to run the ball. What we've got is a quarterback that can really handle that. He knows what's going on out there. Plays change at the line of scrimmage and he's very mature in that part. I really see us getting better and better and taking advantage of how they line up."

UNC did what other teams have done with success this season, especially East Carolina which gave up 53 yards on 34 carries against Virginia Tech, by stacking its defense near the line of scrimmage to combat Virginia Tech’s running game. Virginia Tech’s longest running play against UNC – a 9-yard gain by Coleman on a draw – came in an otherwise pathetic offensive third quarter for the Hokies.

They ran just nine plays in the quarter (three consecutive three-and-out drives during a stretch in which they actually had four straight three-and-outs going back to the second quarter) and produced 13 yards, including five yards and a fumble (recovered by Virginia Tech) on five carries.

“We didn’t run the ball the way we wanted to,” Loeffler said.

“That third quarter made me disappointed as a coach…If we played a better third quarter, we would’ve had a heck of a football game.”

Edmunds said after the game the right hip injury he suffered during the fourth quarter of the Marshall game is no longer an issue. He said it was a thing of the past after the Georgia Tech game, so it wouldn’t seem that he’s dealing with an injury any more severe than the average wear-and-tear a running back absorbs by the middle of a season.

He said after the UNC game he’s gotten used to looking across the line of scrimmage and seeing eight or nine defensive players crowded near the ball.

“It does get kind of frustrating sometimes, but coming into the game, you knew that they were going to play against the run,” said Edmunds, who has 380 rushing yards this season, but just 28 yards combined on 20 carries in the last two games. “We knew that we were going to have to do some other things to kind of get around it, I guess.

“I just feel like a lot of teams are playing against the running game. They’re stacking the box and they’re just bringing a lot of their guys and a lot of the holes are clogged up, but the passing game is open. We’ve been having a lot of success there. In the game of football, hey, you’ve just got to take whatever works and go with it.”